our breakfast room lighting ( a before, after and now )

We've had our home for three years. And we've had three different light fixtures in our breakfast room.

Before: with the builder light just after move in day:

There's something about having the same light as everyone else on the street that had me on the hunt for new lighting right away. It wasn't long before I purchased the Gothic lantern from Pottery Barn HERE:

After:

Oh, how I wish I wasn't so sensitive to my home environment. I think we had the Gothic fixture up just a few months when I noticed dirty film on the glass. Lesson one: glass encased light fixtures are not for an OCD clean person. Lesson two: not a huge fan of the pointy Gothic arch. Lesson three: scale is everything. I knew I could do better.

See the film? After cleaning it, I could never get the streaks to disappear.

The next day we removed the glass inserts and I liked the open sides better... but not for long...

Here it is now with a new lantern I really love. The scale is better, the lines are prettier and it just feels nice.

Now:

You can see the tree house from this window. And let me tell you when we are outside at night, this lantern looks beautiful glowing through the window. The dimmer switch makes the lighting romantic and welcoming.

I also learned that lanterns create intersting shadows on the walls and ceiling.

Where is the Gothic lantern now? In my office sitting room. It's okay (anything was better than the builder boob light), but I'm always keeping an eye out for something better.